1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid ejecting methods, liquid ejecting apparatuses, and liquid ejecting systems for ejecting liquid droplets toward a medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inkjet printers are known as one type of liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting liquid droplets toward a medium. Such inkjet printers eject ink droplets as the liquid droplets toward print paper (hereinafter, also referred to as paper) serving as a medium to form numerous dots on the paper, printing a macroscopic image through these dots.
Such inkjet printers are provided with a print function known as “borderless printing.” This is the function of printing an image on paper, without forming margins, by forming dots over the entire paper up to its edges. Ordinarily, by using image data that is larger in size than the paper, ink droplets are ejected toward regions outside the paper as well so that unexpected areas in which no dots are formed are kept from occurring in the edges due to, for example, misalignment during carrying of the paper.
Also, in a platen serving as a support member that supports the paper while ink droplets land on the paper, an ink collecting section for collecting ink droplets that have landed outside the paper and abandoned is formed as a groove, and the abandoned ink droplets are absorbed and retained by an absorbing material such as a sponge provided in the ink collecting section.
However, when the ink droplets are small in size, the velocity at which the ink droplets are ejected is reduced due, for example, to air resistance before they reach the ink collecting section, thereby potentially causing the ink droplets to lose speed and float. Then, depending on the conditions such as the airflow and the static electricity inside the printer, the ink droplets may adhere to the platen when they have finished floating, causing the platen, which should be clean, to become dirty.